Read around the World

She writes in the opening of her book: “I glanced up at my bookshelves, the proud record of more than twenty years of reading, and found a host of English and North American greats starting down at me…I had barely touched a work by a foreign language author in years…The awful truth dawned. I was a literary xenophobe.”

My enthusiasm was revived when English teacher, Jo Wayman mentioned that she is currently reading around the world. It seems to offer so many benefits – from starting a conversation about books with people from different nations or backgrounds to opening our minds to different writing styles, settings and viewpoints. If we read books by authors from our holiday destinations we are likely to gain insights into the culture, history, politics and art of that country. Not to mention that is works well with the international outlook of the IB (International Baccalaureate) and our efforts to encourage diversity.

As you holiday in a wide range of different countries (books set in destinations within the British Isles are fine too) why not join in with our summer reading challenge?

Italy: ‘I’m not scared’ (Io non ho paura) by Niccolo Ammaniti. A suspenseful novel, moving and with an evocative sense of place – set in Sicily.

Japan: Any of Murakami’s novels. A number of IB classes have read ‘The wind-up bird chronicle’ as one of their works in translation.

Nigeria: ‘Things Fall Apart’ by Chinua Achebe

or for a more contemporary novelist, books by Chimamanda Ngozi – ‘Purple Hibiscus’ or ‘Half of a yellow sun’ set in the times of the Nigerian civil war.

Pakistan: ‘I am Malala’

South Africa: ‘Fiela’s Child’ by Dalene Matthee (recommended by an U6th student) See a review here

Suggestions and ideas.

We are keen to build up a list of recommended reads from as many countries as possible and create a huge map and display in September.

For inspiration you could try an interesting book we have in the library called ‘Reading on Location: Great books set in top travel destinations by Luisa Moncada

Here are some suggestions from a Guardian article from 2006 (not recent but it is recommending classic reads)‘Reading on Location’‘Often, the best kind of holiday read is one that’s inspired by the place you’re visiting. James Anthony and Sarah Crown suggest some classic literary accompaniments to your summer escapes’

TripFiction is a website to help you find books set in locations – you can search for your destination country and add your own suggestions.

Ann Morgan on her blog gives some excellent advice about starting out on this venture:

Be curious and open to changing your ideas Reading the world requires you to let go of your assumptions about many things – from morality and history to what counts as a book in the first place. This can be challenging but also hugely rewarding. As far as possible, try to keep an open mind.

Make the quest your own Many of the people I hear from tell me that they’re using my list as a guide. It’s great to know that it’s useful and I hope that the Book of the month reviews help keep it fresh. However, there are so many amazing books out there and a huge amount has changed since I read the world in 2012. Thousands of brilliant new translations have been published, in some cases opening up the literature of countries that had nothing available in English during my quest.

Go at your own pace You don’t have to read the world in a year. You don’t have to read it in ten years. It’s much better to go at a pace that you can sustain rather than to drive yourself frantic by trying to cram reading into every spare moment and turning it into a chore. Instead, find a window of time (even if it’s just 15 minutes a day) that you can dedicate to reading and stick to that. And if you find yourself wanting to spend more time reading as you go along – great!

Use libraries and other reading resources to read for free Reading can be expensive. Even with the generous book gifts I received from strangers, my original quest cost me several thousand pounds. This can be prohibitive, especially if you live in a part of the world where books are relatively expensive. There aren’t always easy solutions. However, where they exist, libraries can be a fabulous resource for bookworms. Not only do they make books freely available, but they will also often order in titles you request. For people in particularly difficult circumstances, there are charities such as Book Aid working to supply books.

Be patient and use your initiative It’s very difficult when you come to a country that has no commercially available literature in English. What you do about this will depend on how much time and energy you have. During my quest (as you’ll see if you read the posts for the Comoros, Panama and São Tomé and Príncipe, to name a few), I resorted to all sorts of outlandish things to try to source texts, including contacting charities, academics and students working in the region, and tracking translators down through social media. There is no magic solution to ticking off these countries. However, the good news is, it’s getting easier. Since my project, literature from several previously off-limits nations, including Madagascar and Guinea-Bissau, has been released in English. I’m hopeful it won’t be long before every UN-recognised nation has something available in the world’s most-published language. I’ll do my best to keep you informed. Watch this space!

For World Book Day 2018 we’ve been asking the library team, students and staff for their cracking reading recommendations. We’ve been putting together a list of those books that grip the reader and you can’t tear yourself away from the page. We’re hoping that students who don’t consider themselves keen readers might try a book and get hooked!

This is a work in progress. What books would you add to this list? Here’s a our start:

Thrillers/Mysteries

Snow Falling on Cedars – David Guterson

I’m not Scared – Niccolo Ammaniti

Papillon – Henri Charrière

The Giordano Bruno murder mysteries – historical thrillers starting with Heresy (then Prophecy, Sacrilege, Treachery, Conspiracy) each novel is set in a different city the first in Oxford the second in London. The research is impressive, Bruno a great maverick and the plots tense.

Pompeii – Robert Harris (and any of his books including The Cicero Trilogy – Imperium, Lustrum and Dictator)

The Road – Cormac McCarthy

Before I go to sleep – S.J. Watson

The Godfather – Mario Puzo

Revolver – Marcus Sedgwick

The Beach – Alex Garland

The Bunker Diary – Kevin Brooks – Very bleak YA thriller – only read if you are feeling strong and like a harrowing read!

If you liked Bunker Diary you might like – The Chocolate Wars – Robert Cormier

Just great plot-twisting-page-turner-lose-a-weekend novels:

The Husband’s Secret – Liane Moriarty

Big Little Lies – Liane Moriarty

Letter for the King and sequel The Secrets of the Wild Wood by Tonke Dragt

Young Adult Fiction (many are fantasy or dystopian fiction)

Holes – Louis Sachar – Plenty of humour combined with two great stories. (enjoy the film once you’ve read the fantastic book!)

Moonrise – Sarah Crossan

One – Sarah Crossan (The moving story of conjoined teenage girls written in free verse. A super quick and affecting read. Definitely a one-sitting book for a snowy weekend!)

I have a new strategy for making more time for reading. I have banned my phone and hence Twitter and other distractions from the bedroom. I now leave my smartphone with all the wonderful time-wasting apps and distractions downstairs and take my ‘dummy’ phone upstairs. This is the phone for listening to audio books and accessing all the delights of BBC iPlayer radio or podcasts (it still functions as an alarm too). I’ve disabled or deleted superfluous apps or hidden them. The phone has no SIM but has wifi enabled. This set up just makes me work a lot harder to get at those distractions so I immediately reach for my book!

Despite good intentions to write down all the books I read with a brief review I am notoriously bad about this. I recently joined ‘Good Reads’ so that I can record my year’s reading and create To Be Read lists and find this much easier to keep up to date. It is also a good place to find book challenges and connect with other readers.

What’s app groups make a fun way to share book recommendations too. My cousin posted a couple of favourite recent reads to my family group and a flurry of good book suggestions ensued. Now my TBR pile is even bigger!

January is also the time I start thinking about my reading plans for the year ahead and the time when a plethora of Reading Challenges pop up on Twitter and book blogs.

If you are interested in trying a reading challenge have a look at this blog for some suggestions. Generally the aim of the challenge is to encourage you to read outside your usual book habits and try new themes, styles, authors and genres. Penguin have a Classic Book Reading Challenge for 2018. They are spurring people to get around to those classics they always meant to read and recommend a particular classic each month.

I’d love to see some tutor groups taking on a reading challenge this year! We’d be happy to join you and help with buying the books.

Please drop into the library to chat about reading plans or suggest books for stock.

Canny library users know that one of the best places to find inspiration for their next read is the ‘Returned Books’ shelf in any library; in fact we often have a display of ‘Recently returned books’ as this effectively serves as recommendations from fellow students and staff.

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo

The Undoing Project: A Friendship that Changed Our Minds by Michael Lewis

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Commonwealth: A Novel by Ann Patchett​

Some of my favourite books from 2017 were:

Fiction:

La Belle Sauvage: The Book of Dust Volume 1 by Philip Pullman – The first book in the planned fantasy trilogy this time set when protagonist Lyra is a baby. Beautiful writing with wonderful characters and plot. A treat for all ages after many years waiting!

My Name is Leon by Kit De Waal. Funny and touching story of a little boy with themes of adoption, fostering and sibling love.

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Instructions for a heatwave by Maggie O’Farrell

The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty

The Power by Naomi Alderman

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin

Mom and Me and Mom by Maya Angelou

The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

Heresy by S.J. Parris

Graphic novels:

We have an ever expanding collection of graphic novels in the library – many of them on history and a great way to absorb lots of information quickly and in an enjoyable format.

Hostage by Guy DeLisle

Illegal by Eoin Colfer

How to understand Israel in 60 days or less by Sarah Glidden

Young Adult Fiction:

Moonrise by Sarah Crossan

We come apart by Sarah Crossan

Beck by Mal Peet

Most borrowed fiction from Wellington College Library during the Michaelmas Term (September to December 2017)

Every year, school librarians eagerly await Helen Smith’s (Librarian at Eckington School) ‘Christmas Reading Times’. It is a labour of love – Helen scours the Freeview channel Christmas film and TV listings and makes the book to film connections for us all. It’s a fascinating booklet – I discover new film and TV dramas based on books each year. The back page alerts us to a dozen book adaptations to look out for in 2018 including the hugely anticipated ‘Mortal Engines’ film based on Philip Reeve’s fantasy novels with screen play by the author and directed by Peter Jackson. Also coming up in 2018 is the film adaptation of Ian McEwan’s ‘On Chesil Beach’ with screen play by the author.

There are plenty of classics on TV from ‘The Great Gatsby’ to Dickens ‘A Christmas Carol’ and Susan Hill’s ‘Woman in Black. I’m looking forward to the adaptation of the ghostly story ‘The Signalman’ also by Charles Dickens. For fantasy fans there is’Eragon’ and ‘The Hobbit’ and plenty of Harry Potter! For history buffs if you missed the amazing ‘Dunkirk’ (based on ‘The Big Pick-Up’ by Elleston Trevor and ‘Dunkirk’ by Ewan Hunter and J. S. Bradford) it is on ITV4 on Christmas Eve. It’s definitely worth reading Laura Hillenbrand’s inspirational story of Louis Samperini in ‘Unbroken’ before watching the film. Olympic runner Zamperini enlisted in the United States Air Corps in 1941. His plane was searching for lost airmen in the Pacific when his plane crashed. He survived 47 days on a raft at sea and two and a half years in desperately harsh Japanese prisoner of war camps. His resilience and determination to survive are inspirational.

We are continuing to celebrate National Non-Fiction November and have been gathering a wonderfully eclectic mix of favourite books from staff and students. They range from the discovery of longitude to advice on how to prepare for your perfect triathlon race and from an important and witty look at the history of sanitation to what makes a psychopath. There really is something for everyone in this developing reading list and plenty of fascinating knowledge to be absorbed. Do you have a factual book recommendation?

The books in bold are currently available in the Library and the rest are coming soon!

The War on Women by Sue Lloyd-Roberts

The Looting Machine by Tom Burgis

Worse Than War – The Assault on Humanity by DJ Goldhagen

Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy by Gabrielle Coleman

The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power (volume 1) by Robert Caro

The Team of Rivals: the Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin

The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks

Into thin air by Jon Krakauer

Time Bends by Arthur Miller

The Hall of Uselessness by Simon Leys

A Brief History of the Philosophy of Time by Adrian Bardon

Molecules at an Exhibition by John Emsley

To the Finish Line: A World Champion Triathlete’s Guide To Your Perfect Race by Chrissie Wellington

Longitude by Dava Sobel

Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall

Nature via Nurture: Genes, Experience and what makes us Human by Matt Ridley

Rosalind Franklin. The Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox

A People’s Tragedy by Orlando Figes

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

New ideas from dead economists by Todd G. Buchholz

Guns, Germs and Steel: A short history of everybody for the last 13,000 years by Jared Diamond

I was asked by one of our suppliers of online resources, JCS Online Resources, to write a blogpost for them about the developments made to the library at Wellington College over the past 5 years. I thought it might be useful to add to our own Library blog as a way of highlighting the role of the library in our school. Below is a version of that post.

Wellington College Library: Developing Independent Learners

Lucy Atherton, Head Librarian at Wellington College discusses the changes made to The Mallinson Library at Wellington College…

In 2012 the library at Wellington College underwent a huge transformation. The rooms of the existing building were brought together to provide a modern, inspiring learning environment for the whole school community. The glass walled pods, each with a giant touch screen computer, lend themselves to collaborative working by our students and the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy means space has been generated by the removal of desktop PCs.

At the heart of the library is a print book stock of around 10,000 items with an additional 20,000 books housed in departmental libraries spread out over the teaching areas of the campus and over 60 magazines and journals. We also have many digital resources, see below, and Browns Books for Students VLeBooks platform enabling students to read on iPads, smart phones and computers.

We invested in a large quantity of huge bean bags to maximise use of the grassy quad in front of the library for informal learning and revision.

The library’s key goals are to support pupil learning, encourage wider reading and nourish intellectual growth by fostering scholarship alongside supporting teaching staff with resources and a flexible workspace. The library accommodates a range of activities from individual study in the small glass pods to collaborative learning in the larger rooms. The library has a set of iPads which students can borrow to use in the library.

Library staff are fully involved in the school’s aim of developing independent learners. The two professional librarians deliver a 3-session course on research skills and referencing to year 9. These newly acquired skills are put to good use in an independent research project – students choose a subject they are fascinated by and use the library catalogue, book stock and online resources to source reliable information.

Digital resources

Over the years the librarians have built up an extensive e-Library of authoritative sources ranging from generic encyclopedias to subject specific sources such as History Study Centre and Gale Historical Newspapers. We also have Audiopi revisions podcasts which are proving particularly popular with our GCSE English students. The Day News Service for schools provides 3 balanced articles each day with additional links, glossaries and questions. It also gives us short articles in modern foreign languages – very useful as topical news resources for the MFL Department.

Three key resources for our 6th form students are Cambridge Companions, Questia School and the JSTOR Secondary Schools Collection. Questia School is a vast wide-ranging database of e-books, newspaper articles and scholarly articles. Each student has a login so they can save search results to project folders and bookmark or annotate resources. Our school-wide licence to JSTOR complements the content in Questia School, providing high level scholarly articles to support the IB Extended Essay and coursework as well as A level coursework and the EPQ.

Whilst we use JCS for a several of our e-resources we also go direct to other publishers and agents to supplement our e-Library as you can see from our Sharepoint page below.

E-Library on Sharepoint

When the school moved from an Intranet to using Microsoft Sharepoint I wanted to ensure that the e-Library looked attractive and inviting – a visual experience rather than simply a list of links where resources can get lost. I created an icon for each resource resembling apps. The resources are also arranged in subject specific pages creating smaller sub-sets to help with locating them.

Promotion

To maximise use of these online resources it is essential to make staff and students aware of them. Here are some ways I try to publicise what is available on the e-Library:

We aim to make the library as welcoming as possible and reduce barriers to learning. It is wonderful to see students from different year groups working together, an informal tutorial taking place on the relaxed seating or a game of big chess going on in the Garden Room.

This academic year our Headmaster has highlighted three main areas he would like us to focus on – inspiration, independence and inclusivity. He is particularly keen for our students (and staff) to be inspired in everything they do and for us all to share books that have inspired us.

It’s exciting to see that reading has taken off in a big way already this term and is branching out beyond the confines of the library and the English Department. We have always encouraged students to read books to extend their academic subject knowledge and bought prize shortlisted books particularly in the field of popular science for Library stock. For the past few years we have promoted the Royal Society Book Prize and bought multiple copies so students can read and discuss them together.

This year Biology teacher Nik Light has taken this idea from a library Tweet and run with it. Our 6th Form Science Society are ‘shadowing’ the Royal Society Prize – each reading a shortlisted book (or as much as possible of it in the short time available!) before they meet to deliver their verdicts and debates the merits of each book just before the winner is announced by Brian Cox on 19th Sept. We’ll have the live Twitter feed up in the library as I don’t think the ceremony is broadcast live. One of the students has already declared that their book (described only as ISBN 978-1784700171 as we don’t want to pre-empt the judging!) is the best Science book they have ever read.

Dr Caroline Evans, Head of the Chemistry Department is reinforcing the drive to encourage our students to read more and read widely, particularly to extend their subject knowledge in an interesting and entertaining way. She explains:

The Chemistry Department has decided to incorporate more literacy into our lessons for the third form. We have a class set of ‘The Disappearing Spoon’ by Sam Kean which students will be reading and discussing once a fortnight. It is a fantastic book with lots of interesting tales about the Periodic Table. The plan is for students to be able to use their newly acquired knowledge in the lessons about the Periodic Table.

She adds:

As a student I didn’t warm to fiction and I didn’t realise that popular science existed. I’m hopeful that for some of our keen scientists that we can combine their love of science with a love for reading. If you’d like to read the book alongside your tutee then there are copies available in the library. Unleash your inner-geek!

We’ve also been holding book discussions with our new Y9s about ‘Z for Zachariah’ the book they were given to read over the summer holiday. In conjunction with Rob Murphy, head of Y9, the students have been thinking about their 8 ‘Desert Island Books’. This has been easier for some than others – Robert Muchamore’s ‘Cherub’ series seems to be a universal favourite and the book ‘Lion’ has been popular this summer with the film tie-in. Based on the Desert Island Discs format with a twist, the students were allowed to take one luxury and one track of music to the island. We’re hoping that this work will lead to some interesting book discussions with tutors. Emphasis was placed on the students saying why they liked a book and the impact it had on them.

Here’s a charming and impressive example by a Y9 boy.

Desert Island books

Robert Harris The Cicero Trilogy: Imperium, Lustrum and The Dictator

These three books are probably the greatest examples of Harris’s writing. I loved the attention to history and the sheer drama which he made out of Cicero’s Lawyer/Politician life. And they were my first meaty and proper books, all of the books in the trilogy are about 400 pages long.

Robert Muchamore: Brigands M.C. (Cherub series)

Cherub was what got me into reading. They’re everything, spy novels, teenage romances, gritty missions, epic training sequences. Literally everything I wanted from a children’s book. Since the series is huge I can’t choose them all. If I have to choose, the penultimate book in the first series (the James series) is the best.

PG Wodehouse: Carry on Jeeves

PG Wodehouse is the second funniest author I have ever read, and of his many eccentric characters Jeeves is by far my favourite. Jeeves and Bertie Wooster make a ludicrously funny pair. And this is the kind of book which I could spend hours just finding something new in its pages.

Jung Chang: Wild Swans

Ever since reading this I wanted to know more about Mao’s regime and how its still affecting China today, I know so little about such an interesting country and period, and I would love to explore the area further.

The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy (the first one) by Douglas Adams

This is the funniest, most plot hole ridden “book” of all time. I absolutely adored it when I first read it and keep loving it today. It’s just so quirky and different in every way.

Captain Bluebear

Read this. It’s the most charming and creative book ever. Its like a hyperactive imagination went wild but was then tamed by clear concise writing and beautiful turns of phrase.

Music: Macklemore, Drug Dealer

It’s such a soulful song and makes me really focused

Luxury: Spaghetti Bolognese

On the island there would probably be food, it’s just Spaghetti Bolognese would be better than anything I could find.

Get reading – Get extreme!

Here’s my first Extreme reading photo of the summer holidays. Cycling along the Thames Path we ended up in Hyde Park and sought out the amazing ‘Still Water’ statue of a horse’s head by Nic Fiddian-Green.

I was reading ‘My Name is Leon’ by Kit de Waal. This debut novel was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award 2016 and it’s not difficult to see why. Funny, moving and engrossing I immediately warmed to 9 year old protagonist Leon. The brilliantly evocative opening of the book shows Leon’s love and care for his newborn brother Jake. The boys’ mother is incapable of looking after for her children and Leon takes on the role of caring for his brother. Although the book deals with tough themes – depression, sibling separation and identity it was ultimately uplifting. The feeling I had of foreboding and disaster was time and again proved wrong and I was left feeling positive and optimistic at the end of the book and ready to read it all over again!

Here’s more from the Penguin website:

Leon is nine, and has a perfect baby brother called Jake. They have gone to live with Maureen, who has fuzzy red hair like a halo, and a belly like Father Christmas. But the adults are speaking in low voices, and wearing Pretend faces. They are threatening to give Jake to strangers. Since Jake is white and Leon is not.

As Leon struggles to cope with his anger, certain things can still make him smile – like Curly Wurlys, riding his bike fast downhill, burying his hands deep in the soil, hanging out with Tufty (who reminds him of his dad), and stealing enough coins so that one day he can rescue Jake and his mum.

Evoking a Britain of the early eighties, My Name is Leon is a heart-breaking story of love, identity and learning to overcome unbearable loss. Of the fierce bond between siblings. And how – just when we least expect it – we manage to find our way home.

Take a photo of yourself reading in an ‘extreme’ place (without endangering yourself!) Be as creative or imaginative as you like – extreme can mean unusual!

We are looking forward to receiving your photos which will be displayed in the Library at the start of the Michaelmas Term 2017.

Entries welcome from staff, pupils and parents. Prizes for all categories.

Library Opening Hours

Monday to Friday 8.30am - 9pm

Saturday 8.15am - 5pm

Sunday 10am - 7pm

Book of the Week: After the Fire by Will Hill

This Carnegie Shortlisted novel is a cracker! A thriller, a survival story which gradually reveals events on a compound controlled by Father John. The teen protagonist Moonbeam is a well drawn sympathetic character and you will her on as you race through this gripping book.